Category Archives: Indie Rock

‘Inhale Day’, the first part of a two part EP project called ‘Breathe Life’ by ‘Said the Ghost’ (the solo project of Brighton based Jamie Lees), just came out on Summer Solstice. The second part of this grand production will be out on Winter Solstice, and that should literally cover the long and short of it ;). As for Inhale Day, it is a celebration of new beginnings with its shoegazy meditative guitar riffs, soulful singing and a distinctive fusion-hymnlike vibe which submerges your mind and unleashes splashes positive energy in your limbic system. What is clearly impressive is Jamie’s musical and vocal prowess. For starters, his soothing yet versatile voice will be at home in musical styles as diverse as Indian and Irish. To top it off, the eclectic sound that draws some comparisons to Everything Everything and Dutch Uncles, Grizzly Bear, Field Music, White Denim, War on Drugs, St.Vincent, even Stevie Wonder at times, is something that Jamie and Nick Lewis (Mastering) should be very very proud of. We can’t recommend this enough and please purchase this EP from the band camp links below and encourage Jamie for an even more stupendous return with the second part ‘Exhale Night’ later this year. Get ready to get immersed:

A very talented quartet of Paul, John, Tom and Ken, based in Atlanta GA and called ‘Map of the Moon’ are out with their hypnotic self titled EP. Incorporating punchy drums, melodic guitars, powerful vocals and immersing bass the EP starts with Radiohead meets Pearl Jam vibe on ‘give/you something’ and then they take it up a few notches to the almost Stonesy mood in ‘Caught in the middle’. Then ‘little mistake’ with its Barenaked Ladies’ish tempo is a perfect moodsetter before the solid round up with acidy synths and power riffs of ‘freedom from passion’, add to your passions if anything :). This EP is a classic and we highly recommend it. The band can be followed on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mapofthemoonrock/ and you can hear it here or stream the EP from band camp using the links below:

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A quartet of brothers (L.P. Moore, C. Moore, T. Moore, R. Mills), originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, call themselves ‘Catholic Radio’ and dish out a very unique anthemic indie rock sound which blends melodic poppish undertones with part aggressive part fuzzy guitars. They cover the spectrum from Simon & Garfunkel to phsychadelia in the same album and sometimes within the same track. They released their first album (Vol 1) around half a year ago and followed it up with (Vol 2) just recently. Both ‘The Last Summer’ albums have some hard hitting gems which are full of contrasting rhythms, the right balance of angst and calm and very well written and expressive lyrics, which clearly won’t leave you wondering about what they did last summer and will go down well with a crisp Carlsberg or few. We find ‘Rain is Done’ and ‘Gufts Glistening Boob (trim)’ to be absolute masterpieces as they transcend so many genres beautifully and go on to show the impressive range that this band has. But there are numerous tracks to cheer on both these albums and here is a selection of some of our absolute favourites:

Sheffield based Indie band ‘Rehearsed Living’ have recently released a few quality tracks recently which are definite must haves in any music collection. The melancholic ‘Stitch in Time’ envelopes you with its restrained strumming, beautiful work on the percussion and evocative vocals. To you I dare, is a very interesting track which starts with an upbeat tempo and almost happy melody but the vocals are anything but upbeat. It very successfully creates the feeling of sarcasm, challenge or even mockery to an extent and that really fits with the title of the track I suppose. Props, which is the most recent of the tracks that these guys have come out with, incorporates a classic rock almost ‘ballad’ish start but then metamorphoses into a shoegazy tempo and the vocals are really smooth and complement it greatly or prop it up to brilliance. all their songs are downloadable from their soundcloud page which can be accessed using the links provided here:

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London based sibling duo Starar have recently released two scorchers for tracks for their EP titled Summit. Whether it is the classy but subtle interplay between the saxophone and the ‘ever-so-smooth’ vocals on the title track or the incorporation of drip/flow sounds of non-stagnant water into a Dire-Straits meet Richard Marx sort of mood experienced on ‘For the Water’, there is much to cherish here:

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The awesome sibling duo Starar are out with a new track whose ecclectic musical combinations of vibraphone with a steinway piano and saxophone are a bit renegade but definitely have a lot of heart. This laidback dreamy hummable beauty is aptly titled ‘Renegade Heart’. Tune in for some excellent guitarwork and awesome vocals:

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Our friends at Russian Winter Records sent us this MR KITO’s latest Album and we absolutely love the unique sound which is a blend of indie rock elements heard in the early works of Talking Heads and Televesion. A distinctive psychadelic element coupled with the imperfectly perfect diction of the vocals make this an experience worth cherishing over and over again.
MR KITO is the musical solo project of Eric Michot, a French multi-instrumentalist and producer living in Cape Town since 1998.Having played extensively in the local indie music scene, Eric began writing and recording his own songs during 2012.By featuring on several online platforms at once and focusing on simply getting the music out there rather than sales, MR KITO was able to get to the enviable response from music fans worldwide
Enjoy:

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A fantastic teaser/taster track from the debut album ‘Fingertips’ of North Yorkshire based indie band The Van Doos! The sound has an unmistakably British element and is sort of like a Verve infused 30 seconds to Mars. It may also be vocally somewhere closer to the earlier Oasis times. Musically, this is much more contemporary, fresh and comprises Simon Hutchinson (lead vocals, guitar), Louis Bamber (vocals, guitar), Fred Baty (bass) and Dom Antony (drums). Produced by Tristan Ivemy (Frank Turner, The Heartbreaks), the first single, ‘Speak Up’, will be released on May 18th and the album is slated for release in Autumn 2014.

The downloadable version of the wide, wild and life-affirming sample track ‘Airborne’ from their debut album:

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The warm fuzzy, hazy and old school garage rock from the self titled Album by Athenian band ‘The Noise Figures’ has us pretty impressed. With ist Kerouacian inspirations, it highlights the experiences, influences, passing adventures and wisdom that the diversity of travel brings about. The gruffy extended vocals on most of the tracks, experimental music on songs like Bones and Tame the Knife and the overall kickass powerful guitar work, create a very unique blend of Greek/American Fusion, which is worth multiple listens:

This Album was sent to us by our friends in Inner Ear, which is an independent record label, that was established in 2007. It is located in Patras, Greece. They have a very good and enviable line up of extemely talented artistes that you could check out via their Website: http://www.inner-ear.gr/